Most useful twinborn combo for real life

[TheSurvivorofDeath]

What do you think is the most useful twinborn combination for real life use.

Personally, I think either allomantic tin and Feruchemical copper or allomantic zinc and Feruchemical zinc is the best. With the first, you get enhanced senses and perfect memory, two things that would be great for everyday life. You never know when you’ll need to see better or recall a random fact. With the second option, you can manipulate emotions and compound mental speed, which is an excellent thing to be able to do. You’d win every social interaction instantly. On a more physical side of life, allomantic pewter is great no matter what. Combined with feruchemical pewter, iron, or steel, it is an amazing tool. Not terribly important in modern life, but very cool.

What do you guys think?

[Treamayne]

As I sit here, not sleeping (after the pups asked to go out at midnight), I have to admit that I'm with the author on this one. WoB:

Spoiler

Questioner

What were your inspiration when you wrote the [Mistborn] series, or for particular characters--

Brandon Sanderson

Well, Mistborn-- I passed, honestly, through a fog bank at 70 mph driving from my mom's house, and I'm like, "This looks cool, I've got to use this." That's the first thought I can think of. Feruchemy goes back to being in high school and being an insomniac, being really tired and wishing I could store up my sleep, so I'd be sleepy when I wanted to be sleepy.

Calamity Austin signing (Feb. 25, 2016)

As much as I love F-Copper, if I only get one Ferchemical ability. . . it's got to be F-Bronze. While Cadmium and Bendalloy both seem interesting, I wouldn't mind A-Bronze either and compounding Sleep is just more of a great thing.

Double Bronze - always feeling well-rested is just too good to pass up.

Edited December 23, 2023 by Treamayne
SPAG

[alder24]

6 hours ago, TheSurvivorofDeath said:

What do you think is the most useful twinborn combination for real life use.

For Allomancy, I think A-pewter wins - it enhances so many different physical attributes of your body that it's probably the most versatile Allomantic metal. It boosts your strength, speed, balance, endurance and temperature sensitivity. It makes you heal faster and ignore certain wounds - even deadly wounds need more time to kill you, giving you a better chance of finding help. It also increases your alcohol and toxin tolerance. It's just great.

It's hard to choose the most useful Feruchemical power for a Twinborn, because there are many and it depends on the person. F-gold in general is a great choice and it would have a great synergy with A-pewter. F-steel is great but it's mostly situational. F-duralumin is very versatile, with lots of hidden possibilities. It's also handy for social situations. F-tin will improve your quality of life, but I have a soft spot for F-zinc. Being able to think faster, analyze situations faster and come up with better and more logical solutions and conclusions will help you all the time, from social interactions, work to your daily routine. 

For me it's A-pewter and F-zinc. Brain and brawn! 

[Faerie Braids she/her]

As much as I would appreciate the effects of the physical and mental metals (especially F-Bronze), I think that the most generally useful twinborn combination might be double electrum. The knowledge of who you could be (A-Electrum), paired with the determination to achieve that possibility (Compounded F-Electrum), sounds, to me at least, like it would result in some of the most fulfilling and self-actualised lives that are possible. Of course, there are downsides; electrum would be quite difficult to attain, due to both the expense of gold and silver and the expense of the smelting process, and, while compounding helps limit the discomfort, storing electrum effectively results in a temporary state of depression. Additionally, I could simply be reading too much into Ars Arcanum descriptions, given that these abilities have almost never been seen in-book. Still, if my interpretation is correct, I believe this pairing should at least be a strong contender for 'most useful twinborn combo for real life'

[alder24]

26 minutes ago, Faerie Braids said:

The knowledge of who you could be (A-Electrum)

A-electrum doesn't do that. It peers a few seconds into your future, showing you multiple shadows of what you can do, just like Atium does showing you shadows you others. It's not like A-gold. You would need to burn lots of electrum with duralumin to see your distant futures (like Elend did with Atium at the end of HoA). HoA ch 3:

Quote

Vin burned electrum. This created a cloud of images around her, shadows of possible things she could do in the future. Electrum, the Allomantic complement of gold. Elend had started calling it "poor man's atium." It wouldn't affect the battle much, other than to make her immune to atium, should the Inquisitor have any.

AoL Ars Arcanum:

Quote

ELECTRUM: Oracle Mistings burn electrum to see a vision of possible paths their future could take. This is usually limited to a few seconds.

WoBs:

Spoiler

Questioner

How does electrum work?

Brandon Sanderson

Electrum can see future shadows only as far in the future as is done with atium in the books. They use it to counter atium in that they see their own future shadow fighting, and if they see their shadow get hit by an attack, they know to avoid that attack, and they change their own future. This compounds the future shadows they see, which makes it practically as effective at countering atium as atium itself.

While the scope of an electrum shadow is very limited, it could be useful in many situations. Like if you were playing tennis, you’d be able to look at your shadow and tell if you managed to hit the ball or not, and adjust accordingly. That would still take a lot of practice to master, but it could be very effective.

Miscellaneous 2016 (July 15, 2016)

 

Spoiler

Wigginns

What would a Hemalurgic spike granting atium do for an Allomancer already able to burn atium? Does it function similarly to bronze, granting enhanced atium-ing? Along this line of thought, would enhancing electrum burning via spike be of any advantage?

Brandon Sanderson

A spike of something you have would enhance your ability, giving your more strength. With atium, more strength makes for a minimal edge--the length you can push out the atium shadows. However, there's a certain breaking point where you kind of crack the whole system, peer straight into the [Spiritual Realm], and kind of have a "It's full of stars" moment.

Electrum could reach this same moment, potentially, though there's more interference to fight through. Extra strength in electrum isn't going to be terribly useful up to that point.

Alsadius

Is that what happened when atium was burned with duralumin?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Footnote: In his original response Brandon mistakenly said burning atium and duralumin would cause the Allomancer to peer into the Cognitive Realm, rather than Spiritual Realm. He has since confirmed that this was a mistake.
/r/books AMA 2015 (Aug. 1, 2015)

 

[Faerie Braids she/her]

8 hours ago, alder24 said:

A-electrum doesn't do that. It peers a few seconds into your future, showing you multiple shadows of what you can do, just like Atium does showing you shadows you others. It's not like A-gold. You would need to burn lots of electrum with duralumin to see your distant futures (like Elend did with Atium at the end of HoA). HoA ch 3:

AoL Ars Arcanum:

WoBs:

  Reveal hidden contents

Questioner

How does electrum work?

Brandon Sanderson

Electrum can see future shadows only as far in the future as is done with atium in the books. They use it to counter atium in that they see their own future shadow fighting, and if they see their shadow get hit by an attack, they know to avoid that attack, and they change their own future. This compounds the future shadows they see, which makes it practically as effective at countering atium as atium itself.

While the scope of an electrum shadow is very limited, it could be useful in many situations. Like if you were playing tennis, you’d be able to look at your shadow and tell if you managed to hit the ball or not, and adjust accordingly. That would still take a lot of practice to master, but it could be very effective.

Miscellaneous 2016 (July 15, 2016)

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Wigginns

What would a Hemalurgic spike granting atium do for an Allomancer already able to burn atium? Does it function similarly to bronze, granting enhanced atium-ing? Along this line of thought, would enhancing electrum burning via spike be of any advantage?

Brandon Sanderson

A spike of something you have would enhance your ability, giving your more strength. With atium, more strength makes for a minimal edge--the length you can push out the atium shadows. However, there's a certain breaking point where you kind of crack the whole system, peer straight into the [Spiritual Realm], and kind of have a "It's full of stars" moment.

Electrum could reach this same moment, potentially, though there's more interference to fight through. Extra strength in electrum isn't going to be terribly useful up to that point.

Alsadius

Is that what happened when atium was burned with duralumin?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Footnote: In his original response Brandon mistakenly said burning atium and duralumin would cause the Allomancer to peer into the Cognitive Realm, rather than Spiritual Realm. He has since confirmed that this was a mistake.
/r/books AMA 2015 (Aug. 1, 2015)

 

Wow. I should re-read Era 1, because I really managed to misremember that one. I think I probably associated it with the way that Miles used gold in AoL but applied to the future. While that is still a useful ability, it does not mesh with F-Electrum compounding nearly as well, which does lower my estimation of the double-electrum twinborn pairing. Thanks for the correction!

Edited December 31, 2023 by Faerie Braids
Word repetition and spelling

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

I totally agree with @alder24 on the A-pewter F-zinc. I think it is perhaps the most potent combo for balancing multiple aspects of life.  

Trying to think of a second favorite without the need for A-pewter (the #1 single power in the metallic arts imo)... 

I would probably say a second place would be A-brass or A-zinc with F-duralumin.  I can see life becoming a lot easier if you had that kind of magical help to manipulate the compliance of others around you.  

[Longshot97 he/him]

In the spirit of walking away with as many abilities as possible, I would choose A-Pewter and F-Tin. Most versatile Metallic Arts, I think.

A-Pewter grants enhanced strength, speed, balance, fortitude, durability, healing. F-Tin? Enhances senses (duh), negates pain, improves balance, increases proprioception, and like more.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Longshot97

[Pineap-spider Pineapple/Spider]

I personally think that compounding Bendalloy would be the most useful. Super boosting how much energy I have would just be so nice, being able to store a little and then getting a major boost in return. I Know storing wakefulness is completely separate, but I feel like you could just go on forever compounding. And then speed bubbles are just so cool, I would love to just (practically) stop time and finish the thing I'm doing. I can just imagine so many uses. 

Edited January 3 by Pineap-spider
poor grammar

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

6 minutes ago, Pineap-spider said:

I personally think that compounding Bendalloy would be the most useful. Super boosting how much energy I have would just be so nice, being able to store a little and then getting a major boost in return. I Know storing wakefulness is completely separate, but I feel like you could just go on forever compounding. And then speed bubbles are just so cool, I would love to just (practically) stop time and finish the thing I'm doing. I can just imagine so much practicality. 

I used to roll the dice for the random twinborn combos for RPGs and the first time I landed a compounder it was bendalloy / bendalloy. At first I was so disappointed but then I learned of potential synergy with Aetherbinding (which I feel must be free game since it was in TLM). If you could somehow convince Silajana to bond with you as a bendalloy compounder you would be insanely powerful. Just my opinion. And I totally agree with the energy bonuses.  Buffets and food challenges would become my best friend. Even without compounding (because bendalloy isn't cheap) you could really stretch the food budget with a few hours at a 10$ buffet.  

[Longshot97 he/him]

47 minutes ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

Buffets and food challenges would become my best friend. Even without compounding (because bendalloy isn't cheap) you could really stretch the food budget with a few hours at a 10$ buffet.  

I am now convinced that all Scadrian buffet places have rules against Subsumers. Change my mind.

I would argue that in a modern setting, F-Bendalloy becomes a less useful metal. Sure, it helps with budgeting and whatnot, but on the whole, if you live in urban or suburban areas, sustenance is not really an issue. So it remains useful, but less so.

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

1 hour ago, Longshot97 said:

I am now convinced that all Scadrian buffet places have rules against Subsumers. Change my mind.

I would argue that in a modern setting, F-Bendalloy becomes a less useful metal. Sure, it helps with budgeting and whatnot, but on the whole, if you live in urban or suburban areas, sustenance is not really an issue. So it remains useful, but less so.

I agree that in our current setting it is not worth much more beyond saving me the consequences of gluttony haha. It would be super useful if I could convince the showrunners of Alone to let me take a full bendalloy metalmind or two as one of my survival items. 

Honestly I flip-flop between feruchemy vs mistborn so frequently for this reason. Allomancy is so cinematic and awesome that feruchemists look kind of weak next to it. But I could use feruchemy every single day and have it be useful nearly every time where allomancy just won't serve me the same. 

I agree that that a lot of businesses will have metal detectors out front to avoid ferrings of many kinds to not be allowed in. Especially if prefilled medallions become a thing... 

The possible ways ferrings could abuse the economy are crazy. 

But that makes me wonder. Do you think a gold ferring would be turned away from hospitals if they were caught sneaking in goldminds?  Could you store far more health into goldminds while getting hooked up with treatments on top of it? Could be some serious abuse there. Make yourself sick and then push further with medical intervention.  Kind of like how a pewter misting could burn pewter to offset the effects of being so sick to store more... likewise a gold ferring could heal past pewterdrag effects. 

[KelsierFortnite he/him]

I'd definitely go with A-Tin. That's the only allomantic metal I can see myself using in normal life. For Feruchemy, I'd likely either choose bronze or zinc. Wakefulness is extremely convenient, but enhanced mental capacity would be great as well.

8 hours ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

I used to roll the dice

Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes

[Shadow of Electrum he/him]

My top three combos are:

A-Steel, F-Zinc

A-Steel, F-Iron

A-Zinc, F-Zinc

I think that being able to psychically push metal just by drinking some steel flakes would be really cool, as well as, you know, flying. I also really like the idea of being able to store mental speed. Most of the other Feruchemy powers feel more like novelties to me, storing up sleep or determination sounds cool, but mental speed has the most personal use to me. I can do homework in a flash, outwit someone in a conversation, or even give myself a boost in a difficult video game. The other choices are mostly self explanatory. F-Iron is infinitly more useful in combination with A-Steel/Iron, and compounding infinite mental speed sounds ridiculously useful. I probably wouldn't make as much use of rioting as I should since I don't do a lot of face-to-face social interaction, but it still seems like a nice bonus in addition to becoming a literal super computer.

[TheFrugalWizard he/him]

I am going to have to go with either A-Chromium and F-Chromium or A-Bendalloy and F-Chromium. Having extra luck would be Incredibly useful, especially as a compounder. I could literally guess on multiple choice questions. Better luck asking someone out. Everything I do is all but guaranteed success. Beyond that, I could give myself a dump of luck every time they drew a lottery ticket. 

Bendalloy allows me to pause time, basically. I can throw up a bubble, and do eight hours of work in ten seconds flat. Bullets slow when you're burning bendalloy. Bendalloy also acts as a sort of F-zinc, but you don't have to store it. It also acts as a limited F-Steel, but only within the confines of the bubble. The main problem with this is that you age while burning Bendalloy. Not huge, but if you spend 8 extra hours per day, that's an extra year for every three you spend in real time. That's almost twenty years deducted from the average person. So, bendalloy would be invaluable, but don't overuse it.

Final top three:

3. A-Pewter F-Zinc

2. A-Bendalloy F-Chromium

1. A-Chromium F-Chromium

Edited January 25 by TheFrugalWizard

[The Stormfather He/Him]

I think F-bendalloy could be helpful, since you could just eat a ton when food prices go down and store it up, and an Allomantic power that doesn't take an expensive metal would be preferable, so A-Pewter or A-tin.

F-copper is also pretty good, and copper isn't expensive like gold or electrum. I would prefer to have F-gold, but.... it's gold. Not like I have much access to that.

Soothing would also be a good skill, although you would have to be sure that there were no seekers near you or you might get arrested or something.

So, my final choices are :

1 : A-pewter F-bendalloy

2 : A-tin Feruchemical copper.

3 : A-brass or zinc, F- copper.

[Iron-Eyes he/him]

I have three preferences listed below one is  highest and three being the lowest.

1. A-Steel F-Gold. 

2. A-Steel F-Bendalloy 

3. A-Bendalloy F-Chromuim

My preferences are mainly combat based but they do all have their uses in day to day life.

[Metalmapper]

I really love the idea of bronze compounding, and I'd love to be a Seeker, but I also really like bendalloy and copper. I think my top three would be:

3. A-Bendalloy F-Copper

2. A-Bronze F-Copper

1. A-Bronze F-Bronze

With Bendally/Copper, I could freeze time, put a snapshot into my metalmind, and then start time back up again. Super useful. A-Bronze isn't too useful in a daily setting unless you're a security guard, but I could also do something like studying the metallic arts, which would be awesome. F-Copper would help with that. Of course, a Bronze compounder simply doesn't get tired unless they want to, which effectively doubles my productivity each day. Incredibly useful.

[Crow he/him]

I would say that for real life F-bronze or zinc and A-bendalloy because it would increase how much stuff you could do in a day but personally I would really want F-zinc and A-electrum